Twitter boss Elon Musk has started following Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter. On Monday, a screenshot displaying PM Modi’s name among the list of 195 individuals the billionaire follows surfaced and quickly garnered attention on the micro-blogging platform.
With 134.3 million followers, Musk is the most followed person on Twitter. Musk has recently surpassed former US President Barack Obama (132 million followers) as the most followed person on the platform. Prime Minister Modi is also one of the most followed leaders on Twitter, with 87.7 million followers. A follow from Musk, however, is unusual. The list of accounts that he follows includes a mix of people, organisations, and even the accounts that primarily tweet memes.
Apart from Obama, Musk follows his mother Maye Musk, Joe Rogan who is famous for stirring controversies through his podcasts, Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spotify founder Daniel Ek, “Game of Thrones” author George R R Martin, and environmental activist Greta Thunberg among others.
Elon Musk is now following Narendra Modi (@narendramodi)
— ELON ALERTS (@elon_alerts) April 10, 2023
Several users expressed their thoughts on this development on Twitter.
“It would be great for PM Modi to strengthen his relationship with Elon as we see India is the world as fifth most polluted country in the world,” a user commented.
“Completely understandable. India is still the largest country in the Indian subcontinent and the second most populous country on the Earth – if this number did not change over the weekend,” another user said.
Musk’s follow on PM Modi’s Twitter account kindles another speculation that might have something to do with Tesla’s entry into India. For years, Tesla, one of the world’s most popular car brands owned by Musk, has been trying to begin operations in India. It has lobbied for the sales of its entry-level cars in India, but the government’s mandate for the entry of a foreign brand into the country has turned off Tesla. Modi met Musk back in 2015 during his visit to the Tesla factory in San Jose, California, US. The purpose of the meeting was to explore Tesla’s solar Powerwall battery technology.
— Written with inputs from IANS